Yolo Investments 2025 annual letter
Dear Partners & Friends,
We are delighted to share our latest Yolo Investments annual letter.
I founded Yolo Investments on a simple belief, that backing outstanding people is the best way to make a positive impact in this world, but more importantly creating a trusted network of these people to create efficiencies in commerce.
Early on, I learned that success is built upon great relationships. Investing is an extension of this idea.
Yolo Investments evolved out of an opportunity to support fantastic entrepreneurs and businesses with capital and the network of knowledge and connections we have built over the years.
Markets will ebb and flow, and trends will change, but these relationships we continue to build will always be our edge.
I asked Evert, the MD of Yolo Investments to pen a few thoughts about 2025 and our plans for 2026.
Tim
We started last year focused very much on our latest flagship, our vintage 2025 Fund II. It’s no secret that market conditions were (and still mostly are) challenging for fintech and gaming-led venture capital, so we were very proud to announce we successfully hit our €100m target midway through the year. Writing at the time, our GP Tim Heath noted that investors “looked at our previous funds’ track record and the strength of our ecosystem, and … strongly backed us”.
Dealflow
At that point, Fund II had already deployed capital across 12 companies spanning iGaming, blockchain, and fintech, including a follow-up investment in crypto payments network Mesh as part of its $82m Series B round.
Since then, there have been plenty of other significant milestones across the Fund II portfolio. In May, Syfe completed the acquisition of Australian online investment platform Selfwealth. The move secured Syfe’s position as one of the largest digital wealth platforms in the Asia Pacific region, with more than $10bn in assets under management.
In the same month, Dabble, a company we first invested in back in 2021, continued its remarkable journey from start-up to one of the iGaming industry’s most dynamic brands. It entered the UK for the first time, following successful launches in Australia and the US.
We also made our first major Latin America-focused investment in September, taking part in a $10m round for Mexican fintech Digitt. The company has built a strong profile in the country, in particular after a star appearance on the popular TV investment series Shark Tank.
In October, Pave Bank secured $39m in a funding round led by Accel as it furthered its mission to become the world’s first programmable bank and enabled us to double down on our initial investment.
The following month, Kraken, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, announced that it had filed to go public in the US, having recently raised at a $20bn valuation. While the IPO timing is not yet known, it is clear that this will result in another successful return for Fund II.
In December, Fund II celebrated its first exit when CoinMENA was acquired by Paribu in a deal valued up to $240m, generating a substantial return for our investors. We first invested in CoinMENA in early 2024, and it is a testament to the dedication of the team, led by Talal Tabbaa, that they have achieved a successful exit in such a short time.
And one of our Fund I companies, Greenbit Energy, also had a strong year, making significant progress in building one of the most technologically advanced biogas plants in the world. This involves a specifically-developed crypto mining heat pump that utilises residual heat for gas generation, using the gas for electricity and heat production with district heating for a nearby city. It is expected to start operating later in 2026.
Global headwinds
There was other big news in 2025 for our Fund I portfolio companies, with Hub88 and Live88, securing UAE B2B licences. We’ve been extremely bullish on the potential for gaming growth in the region, and we expect to take a leading role in these markets from 2026. We’re actively looking to invest in this wider ecosystem, along with supportive services, going forward.
While it has been a really strong year, the nature of venture capital means that not every investment will turn out to be a winner. Although in a small minority, we had a handful of Fund I portfolio companies that struggled to find product market fit in 2025. Some of those that did not meet growth expectations required bridge funding. We are actively managing these assets today with view to positioning them for eventual growth and exit in 2026.
Our ongoing focus, expertise and increasingly the power of our ecosystem mean that we’re able not only to quickly identify high-potential companies but also support them, and in many cases, accelerate their growth.
This meant we were able to make our first distributions back to LPs at the end of 2025, driven by proceeds from the CoinMENA exit mentioned earlier.
Liquidity has been constrained across global venture capital for a few years now, and M&A activity has been relatively low. Between 2024 and 2025, the global exit value was around 50 percent of the average of the six years before that. With this in mind, we are laser-focused on our funds’ DPI, or, in other words, the actual cash we return to our investors, and we are already estimating more distributions for 2026
Fund II and beyond
As we enter 2026, Fund II is now almost fully deployed. We expect to complete three more deals in H1 2026, after which the capital deployment will be complete, and our focus will be on portfolio growth and seeking the best possible exits.
In parallel, we have also begun work on the launch of Fund III, and we already have an in-principal approval from the ADGM in Abu Dhabi. In a move that underscores our commitment to the UAE, last year we opened an office and the majority of the Investments team has already relocated to the region. Fund III is targeting to raise up to $500m.
We are currently working on the conditions for final approval from the FSRA and expect to launch Fund III shortly after we receive our license from the FSRA. The investment strategy for this fund will be our continued focus on our three core industries: gaming, fintech and crypto. However, the maturity criteria will shift towards later-stage growth companies and larger individual investments. Whilst the fund’s mandate is global, we expect to deploy a large share of capital specifically in the GCC, to enable regional wealth funds and investment vehicles to invest and benefit from the returns we have already delivered elsewhere with our Funds I and II.
In conclusion, we would like to thank our investors for their continued trust and conviction. We’re equally grateful to the founders and teams across our portfolio for their relentless execution, ambition and adaptability in the face of shifting market conditions. Their work is the real engine behind our progress, and they put us in a great position to deliver further strong outcomes to our LPs in 2026 and beyond.
Evert Einroos
Managing Director
Yolo Investments